conscious consumer

I've been a Mac fan for over a decade. i like their products because they just work. with their computers, i don't have to spend all my time patching or worrying about the latest virus. os x is just amazing. as a web developer i'm familiar with the unix operating system, so being able to do things from the command line, is just so cool.

i also love my ipod. lately i've been using itunes 4 to rate all my songs using the 'party mix'. i created a smart playlist of all the songs i haven't yet rated. then while i work at my computer, i go through that list and rank the song based on how much i liked it. this new list (quatre a cinq etoiles - 4 to 5 stars) goes on my iPod with just the songs i love.

it will change the way you watch tv. that may sound like hyperbole, but everyone i know that owns tivo agrees. tivo allows you to watch what you want when you want to. it's really that simple.

the user interface is extremely easy to use, allowing you to search for the types of shows you enjoy and recording them whenever they are on. i no longer watch tv unless it's through tivo. when i travel, i don't bother to turn on the tv unless it's to watch a few minutes of the news to make sure something horrible hasn't happened. I fast forward past commercials. i control what the media tells me, i don't let it control me.

is it wrong to love your vacuum cleaner? well, then i don't want to be right. ;)

dyson makes a really good vacuum cleaner. it's on the expensive side, but is worth it in my opinion. it cleans very well both on carpet and on our tile floor. we have 4 cats and i have very long hair, so having a good vacuum is a worthwhile investment. the way it is constructed is well thought out. it has won many design awards. it's kind of like a functional piece of art.

their technical support is awesome. they print the toll free number on the front of the vacuum, and encourage you to call with questions. i called recently when it lost suction. I looked for blockages, but couldn't find any. turns out i had put the guard that goes over the roller bar wrong the last time i had cleaned it. once i fixed it with their help, all was well and it was sucking away with gusto. the coolest thing about their technical support was that instead of a phone tree and endless waits, a person answered the phone and helped me right away on a saturday!

I had very long and very dry hair. it had lost all it's luster and the ends were like straw. i tried a variety of conditioners, which helped some, but my hair was still a mess.

I decided to cut 8 inches off taking it from below my waist to bra strap length. at the same time that i had it cut, i decided to buy some artec moisture pac conditioner since i had heard good things about it. the salon also had the 'kiwi coloreflector' shampoo and conditioner on sale, so i picked that up as well.

wow! what a difference. i noticed a change immediately, but it has only become better after a few weeks of use. my hair is now silky and shiny with a lot of body. they don't test on animals, which is also a huge plus. it is meant to help you keep your color between dyes, but still works well on my undyed hair. artec also has color depositing shampoos which i may try as the gray creeps its way in.